Featured Documents

The Treaty of KanagawaOn March 31, 1854, the first treaty between Japan and the United States was signed. The Treaty was the result of an encounter between an elaborately planned mission to open Japan .

Whistler's Survey Etching One of the known works completed by Whistler during his brief federal service, "Sketch of Anacapa Island," 1854.

The District of Columbia Emancipation ActOn April 16, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia. Passage of this act came 9 months before President Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation.

The
Emancipation Proclamation
The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious
states "are, and henceforward shall be free."

Lt.
Henry O. FlipperBorn into slavery in Thomasville, Georgia, on March 21, 1856, Henry Ossian Flipper
was appointed to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1873.

The
19th AmendmentBy 1916, almost all of the major suffrage organizations were united behind the goal of
a constitutional amendment. When New York adopted woman suffrage in 1917 and President
Wilson changed his position to support an amendment in 1918, the political balance began
to shift.

Japanese
Surrender Document
... That morning, on the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay, the Japanese envoys
Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and Gen. Yoshijiro Umezu signed their names on the
Instrument of Surrender. The time was recorded as 4 minutes past 9 o'clock.

The Marshall
Plan
On June 5, 1947, in a commencement address at Harvard University, Secretary of State George
C. Marshall first called for American assistance in restoring the economic infrastructure
of Europe. Western Europe responded favorably, and the Truman administration proposed
legislation.

The
North Atlantic Treaty
This alliance created a military and political complement to the Marshall Plan for European
economic recovery by establishing a mutual defense pact against possible aggression from
the Soviet Union.

A
Letter from Jackie Robinson
Having captured the attention of the American public in the ballpark, he now delivered
the message that racial integration in every facet of American society would enrich the
nation, just as surely as it had enriched the sport of baseball.

Astronaut
John Glenn and the Friendship 7 MissionWith great skill, courage, and grace, Glenn piloted the spacecraft manually as
the autopilot function failed, and Mission Control wondered whether the capsule's life-saving
heat shield would hold while reentering the atmosphere.

Apollo
11 Flight PlanThe flight plan describes tasks to be done 102 to 103 hours into the flight. Immediately
after landing, Armstrong and Aldrin reviewed their lunar contact checklist and reached
a decision on "stay/no stay." Armstrong then reported to Houston: "The
Eagle has landed."

The Magna
Carta
With Magna Carta, King John placed himself and England's future sovereigns and magistrates within the rule of law.
(Courtesy of David M. Rubenstein.)